Once again the Hi Hi’s met Lowland League opposition in a pre-season friendly when East Stirlingshire made the trip from Falkirk to Millfield last Saturday. Manager Scott Bonar was able to field four of his five new signings and a decent crowd turned up to see the match. The visitors were prominent in the early exchanges but the home side settled into the game and opened the scoring midway through the first half when Guy McGarry’s long throw set Gabri Auriemma free on the right and the captain’s cut back set up Mark McGovern for his first Haddington goal. The home side came close minutes later but the Shire goal survived and just on half time the visitors drew level when goalkeeper McLellan was beaten by a low shot.
Both sides made multiple changes in the second half which disrupted the flow of the game. Team boss Bonar gave some game time to a few of the under 20 squad and it was the visitors who had the best chance to win the match when they were awarded a penalty after a rash challenge in the box. Goalkeeper Campbell McLellan came to the rescue when he pulled off a fine double save to keep the scores level. The match finished in some controversy when young Robbie Peffers was the subject of a bad challenge that somehow went unpunished.
